To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Riverworld Saga, Book 1

For explorer Richard Francis Burton, Alice Liddell Hargreaves - the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland - and the rest of humanity, death is nothing like they expected. Instead of heaven, hell, or even the black void of nothingness, all of the 36 billion people who ever lived on Earth are simultaneously resurrected on a world that has been transformed into a giant river valley.

The Fabulous Riverboat: Riverworld Saga, Book 2

The second entry in the Riverworld series, The Fabulous Riverboat tells of a world where all of humanity has been mysteriously resurrected on the banks of one mighty river. Samuel Clemens (a.k.a.Mark Twain) is tasked with finding a fallen meteorite and using its ore to build a massive riverboat. But in order to succeed, he'll have to outwit some of history's most nefarious villains.

The Dark Design: Riverworld Saga, Book 3

Best-selling author Philip José Farmer crafted an SF landmark with his wildly imaginative Riverworld series. In this third installment, much has transpired since Earth’s denizens found themselves resurrected along the shores of a river 22 million miles long. With the truth of this strange river’s creators, the Ethicals, still shrouded in mystery, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Samuel Clemens, King John, and Cyrano de Bergerac face a fantastical voyage of discovery.

The Magic Labyrinth: Riverworld Saga, Book 4

By universal critical and popular acclaim, Philip José Farmer’s Riverworld novels form one of the most original, majestically conceived science fiction works of all time. In this fourth entry in the saga, a great battle is brewing as extraordinary characters - including Samuel Clemens, U.S. Grant, and Cyrano de Bergerac - find themselves on the verge of discovering the origins of Riverworld.

Gods of Riverworld: Riverworld Saga, Book 5

Hugo Award-winning author Philip José Farmer created one of SF’s most mind-blowing, critically acclaimed, and popular series of all time with the installments of his Riverworld series. In The Gods of Riverworld, Sir Francis Burton and his band have challenged the mysterious leaders of Riverworld and now control the mechanism that once held them in its sway. But the tower stronghold awaits, and the realm still houses awesome forces that could bring about their ultimate destruction.

Midnight at the Well of Souls

At the heart of a bizarre planet lay the goal of every being that had ever lived.… Below average in height and unprepossessing in appearance, Nathan Brazil is an unassuming if cynical starship owner, carrying passengers and cargo for a living - hardly the sort of person to hold the fate of the entire universe in his hands. But when Nathan detours from his route to answer a distress call, a hidden stargate hurls him and his passengers to the Well World, the master control planet for the cosmos. Billions of years ago, a godlike race unlocked all the secrets of space and time and remade the universe according to their grand design.

Exiles at the Well of Souls

Antor Trellig, head of a ruthless interstellar syndicate, has seized a supercomputer with godlike powers that could make him omnipotent. The Council offers master criminal Mavra Chang any reward she desires if she can stop Trellig - and horrible, lingering death if she fails. But neither Trellig nor Mavra has taken the Well World into consideration. Built by the ancient Markovians, the Well World controls the design of the cosmos. When the opponents are drawn across space to the mysterious planet, they find themselves in new, alien bodies and in the middle of a battle where strange races fight desperately.

Ilium

From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down upon a momentous battle, observing - and often influencing - the legendary exploits of Paris, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and the clashing armies of Greece and Troy. Thomas Hockenberry, former 21st-century professor and Iliad scholar, watches as well. It is Hockenberry's duty to observe and report on the Trojan War's progress to the so-called deities who saw fit to return him from the dead.

Olympos

Beneath the gaze of the gods, the mighty armies of Greece and Troy met in fierce and glorious combat, scrupulously following the text set forth in Homer's timeless narrative. But that was before 21st-century scholar Thomas Hockenberry stirred the bloody brew, causing an enraged Achilles to join forces with his archenemy, Hector, and turn his murderous wrath on Zeus and the entire pantheon of divine manipulators; before the swift and terrible mechanical creatures that catered for centuries to the pitiful idle remnants of Earth's human race began massing in the millions, to exterminate rather than serve.

Way Station

In this Hugo Award-winning classic, Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he had done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.

Post-Human: Post-Human Series, Book 2

The future should have been perfect. Microscopic robots known as nans could repair any damage to your body, keep you young by resetting your cellular clocks, and allow you to download upgrades like intelligence, muscle strength, and eyesight. You were supposed to be able to have anything you wanted with a simple thought, to be able to fly without the aid of a machine, to be able to live forever. But when a small group of five terraformers working on Venus return to Earth, they discover that every other human in the solar system has been gruesomely murdered.

Sub-Human: Post-Human Series, Book 1

Before he was Old-timer, he was Craig Emilson, a young doctor, sucked into military service at the outbreak of World War III. Enlisting to become a Special Forces suborbital paratrooper, Craig is selected to take part in the most important mission in American military history - a sortie into enemy territory to eliminate the world's first strong Artificial Intelligence. The mission is only the beginning of Craig's story, and for the story of humanity as well, as they accelerate towards a world that is post-human.

Dark Is the Sun

Fifteen billion years from now, Earth is a dying planet, its skies darkened by the ashes of burned-out galaxies, its molten core long cooled. The sunless planet is nearing the day of final gravitational collapse in the surrounding galaxy. Mutations and evolution have led to a great disparity of life-forms, while civilization has resorted to the primitive.

Invader: Foreigner Sequence 1, Book 2

Nearly two centuries after a human colony is abandoned on an alien planet, the two races have reached a tenacious peace agreement. But when the human ship returns unexpectedly, both governments are thrown into chaos.

Fleet of Worlds: 200 Years Before the Discovery of the Ringworld

Fleet of Worlds takes a closer look at Human-Puppeteer (Citizen) relations and the events leading up to Niven's first Ringworld novel. Kirsten Quinn-Kovacks is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship, gave them a world, and nurtures them still. If only the Citizens knew where Kirsten's people came from.

Freedom's Landing: Freedom Series, Book 1

It's the dawning of a new age for mankind when the Catteni descend to Earth and easily overcome the Earth's population. Thousands are herded onto slave ships headed for the intergalactic auction block. Kris Bjornsen is captured in Denver on her way to her college classes and wakes up on the primitive planet Barevi.

Have Space Suit - Will Travel

First prize in the Skyway Soap slogan contest was an all-expenses-paid trip to the moon. The consolation prize was an authenticspace suit, and when scientifically minded high school senior Kip Russell wonit, he knew for certain he would use it one day to make a sojourn of his own tothe stars. But "one day" comes sooner than he thinks when he tries the suit on in his backyard - and finds himself worlds away, a prisoner aboard a space pirate's ship.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a true landmark of 20th-century literature—a chilling and still-provocative look at a postapocalyptic future.

Freedom's Choice: Freedom Series, Book 2

The shipments of Catteni slaves continue, but they find that they are enjoyably reinventing the creature comforts of home, and searching for the origin of the Farmers who were the original occupants of the planet Botany, all under the keen eyes of two very different observers.

Hominids: The Neanderthal Parallax, Book 1

Neanderthals have developed a radically different civilization on a parallel Earth. A Neanderthal physicist, Ponter Boddit, accidentally passes from his universe into a Canadian underground research facility. Fortunately, a team of human scientists, including expert paleo-anthropologist Mary Vaughan, promptly identifies and warmly receives Ponter. Solving the language problem and much else is a mini-computer, called a Companion, implanted in the brain of every Neanderthal. But it can't help his fellow scientist back in his world, Adikor Huld, when the authorities charge Adikor with his murder.

1632: Ring of Fire, Book 1

New York Times best-selling author Eric Flint has received glowing critical praise for his Ring of Fire alternate history series. In this first installment, a West Virginia town is transported from the year 2000 to 1631 Germany at the height of the Thirty Years’ War. Thrust into conflict, the town residents must also contend with moral issues such as who should be considered a citizen.

1633

New York Times best-selling author Eric Flint’s 1632 presented listeners with a fascinating alternate history of the Thirty Years’ War, through the eyes of a West Virginia community tossed back in time to 17th-century Germany. Here, Flint teams up with acclaimed science fiction author David Weber to continue his epic tale. In 1633, the West Virginians attempt to use their modern-day knowledge to build a resistance against the forces of France, Spain, and England.

Gateway

When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!

Crossover: Cassandra Kresnov, Book 1

Crossover is the first novel in a series which follows the adventures of Cassandra Kresnov, an artificial person, or android, created by the League, one side of an interstellar war against the more powerful, conservative Federation. Cassandra is an experimental design - more intelligent, more creative, and far more dangerous than any that have preceded her. But with her intellect come questions, and a moral awakening. She deserts the League and heads incognito into the space of her former enemy, the Federation, in search of a new life.

Just One Damned Thing After Another: The Chronicles of St Mary's, Book 1

Behind the seemingly innocuous façade of St Mary's, a different kind of historical research is taking place. They don't do 'time-travel' - they 'investigate major historical events in contemporary time'. Maintaining the appearance of harmless eccentrics is not always within their power - especially given their propensity for causing loud explosions when things get too quiet. Meet the disaster-magnets of St Mary's Institute of Historical Research as they ricochet around History.

Publisher's Summary

Original and provocative, To Your Scattered Bodies Go won the 1971 Hugo Award for outstanding science fiction novel and has continued to be a favorite of generations of new listeners.

For explorer Richard Francis Burton, Alice Liddell Hargreaves - the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland - and the rest of humanity, death is nothing like they expected. Instead of heaven, hell, or even the black void of nothingness, all of the 36 billion people who ever lived on Earth are simultaneously resurrected on a world that has been transformed into a giant river valley.

With hunger and disease eliminated, Burton and the others appear to have everything they need - except an answer to the question "Why?"

Both swashbuckling adventure and insightful examination into mankind's constant search for answers to the unanswerable, To Your Scattered Bodies Go is voiced by narrator Paul Hecht to emphasize every thrilling moment of discovery.

Philip Jos? Farmer is a master of creating worlds, and Riverworld's probing of history and religion, mixed with a world of seemingly endless life is a perfect example. The only drawback is the other books in the series haven't been released yet- Let alone The World of Tiers series.

I first read this book quite a few years ago. The concept was certainly intriguing--everyone you know or know of from your lifetime or history is resurrected along the banks of a river that makes the Amazon look like spring runoff. I really enjoyed Sir Richard Francis Burton as the protagonist through the series and enjoyed appearances by other characters like Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) and Hermann Goering. How everyone reacts to conditions both more advanced that they had known during life and also more primitive makes for an excellent series.
I hope that we get the rest of these books in the near future and that the World of Tiers series comes about, too.

I read this book because the idea of historical figures returning to life and all meeting one another was intriguing. Several other writers also referred to this author and series as having inspired their work. Since I liked their work, I thought I might like this. The idea is good but I don't care too much for the writing. Farmer's pacing is off, it often duels on or returns to a certain theme too often. Events happen that make it seem as though the story will go into a certain direction but it doesn't. It goes back to where it was and stays there for several more chapters. When it ended, I just felt that it could have ended a lot faster.

Also, though this is a symptom of the time in which the book was written, it has no strong female characters. It also objectifies women too much. This is a world in which all people who died return to life young and vigorous. There is no disease, and no pregnancy. But this seems only to be a licence for women to become even more of an object of sexual and emotional desire than in the "real" world. Furthermore, we never see the situation from a woman's point of view. The story starts with an interesting female character in the form of Alice Liddle Hargreaves (the girl who inspires Alice in Wonderland) but she never develops as a character and literally disappears for the last third of the book. She's just there as a sort of mental torture for the lead (male) character Richard Burton. Interestingly enough, I also read the second book in this series, "The Fabulous Riverboat", and there is a female character there who seems to be there only to be out of reach of that book's main character Mark Twain.

I read the second part of the series because I found the idea so strong. But it was hard to relate to the events and characters in either book. I am going to read the third part only because I want to see where the story should already have gotten.

After he died, the famous 19th century explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton wasn???t surprised to find that what the Christian priests had taught about the Resurrection wasn???t true. But he was totally bewildered by what actually happened. He woke up young, hairless, naked, and turning in midair (as if on a spit) in the middle of 37 billion other young, hairless, naked and rotating humans. Soon after waking, the bodies ??? all the people over the age of five who had ever lived ??? plunged to the ground and began their new lives together in a giant river valley... Is this Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, or is it some huge social experiment being run by aliens? Most of the humans, happy that their basic needs are being met, are content to just be living again. Some people see this as an opportunity to seize the power and wealth that they had, or never obtained, on Earth. But Sir Richard just wants to know what???s going on. He seems to be the only person who got a glimpse behind the scenes of their new home and, not only does he resent being manipulated, but his curiosity is insatiable. So, he and a few companions set out to explore the Riverworld and, they hope, to discover the source of the river and find some answers. Richard Francis Burton, a fascinating and scandalous man in real life, is the perfect character to explore the Riverworld. Philip Jose Farmer???s depiction of Burton, and several other real historical figures, is superb, though occasionally teachy when Farmer periodically interjects an encyclopedic-sounding aside about a character???s life. It???s hilarious to watch Burton learn about 20th-century history and interact with some of its denizens. The best aspect of TYSBG is its original premise ??? the idea of all of humanity spread out, generally in chronological order, along a giant river which can be traveled, like a human timeline.TYSBG, written in 1971, is creative, exciting, fast-paced, and totally absorbing. I was completely enthralled.

I am one who enjoys books such as this. Its sci-fi with meaning. Underlying messages everywhere and protagonist driven.

After death where do we go? its something humans want to and have striven to know for quite a time, and this tale is quite the rendition of what might happen after. Hunger is no longer a problem, Death...is not really death. Its "travel"

Shadowy figures, confrontation, and human tendencies revealed along with so much more when you delve into this series.

What would have made To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Riverworld Saga, Book 1 better?

Instead of focussing on the groups of humans and cultures who might have worked together to figure out why they were there and establish a safe society, this book mostly focusses on the very worst parts of humanity. I found it highly disturbing that the author took this fascinating idea of the afterlife and turned it into a world where rape and murder were the norm on such a huge scale. Earth has a very bloody history and the author explores human nature in this light, however I suppose I expected a little more development from people who woke up to find they had all been resurrected in the midst of all the cultures who had ever lived.

This book needed better character development all around. Billions of people all wake up at once to find that they have been resurrected from the dead and can now interact with everyone who ever lived, and there is surprisingly little internal development from most characters going through this.

Character of any kind is especially lacking with the book's female characters. I very strongly disliked how the women in this book only existed to have sex with the men, either consensual or (more often) as rape. For example, most if not all of the main female characters in this book join the group by becoming sex partners with one of the male characters as a form of protection, and do not really contribute in any other way except when they are fighting for their lives (to avoid being raped).

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator needs to distinguish between characters a little better. He was inconsistent with accents and I frequently got Burton and Frigate confused when there was dialog between them because the narrator would speak the same way with both.

This was my first introduction to Phillip Jose Farmer, and I have to say I loved it. Great science fiction writing, with a fascinating central idea, well-developed and entertaining characters, and fluent writing. I would recommend this to anyone looking for some great science fiction writing.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Sean

Nottingham, United Kingdom

10/10/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Seriously, all SF fans should try this."

What made the experience of listening to To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Riverworld Saga, Book 1 the most enjoyable?

I've loved this book for many years - it is one of my very favourites and always makes me think.. "what would I do if I was there... oh... I am there, wonder what I AM doing?" :) It is one of those books that delivers a premise so unusual and profound that it will stick with you.

What other book might you compare To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Riverworld Saga, Book 1 to, and why?

I have always thought that (the somehow often overlooked) author Edmund Cooper wrote several books that remind me of Scattered Bodies - particularly 'Seahorse in the sky', but also 'Transit' and the magnificent 'Overman Culture'.Obviously, Farmer's sequel, 'The Fabulous Riverboat' is a must read after this one and 'The Dark Design' (although I remember being less engaged with that one.Other Farmer books might shock the reader expecting more of 'Scattered' but I particularly liked 'Strange Relations' - for the strong reader, Flesh and Blown are fascinating...

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Tricky, I love the initial scene of resurrection; but the ones that probably stick in the memory most are the 'awakening in the chamber', the 'giganthropes at the head of the river' and 'the dreamgum episode'.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Gwen dying, Goring's dreams.

Any additional comments?

I greatly enjoyed the 'voice' - well done. Next one please - Riverboat. BTW - there was a film made of the book but it is not great :(

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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